A dissertation submitted in ful lment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in the School of Computational and Applied Mathematics , University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, July 2018 / The mining industry forms an integral part of South Africa - its society, culture, history and of course, its economy. This research dissertation focuses on the Open Pit Mine Production Scheduling Problem, a cornerstone in the design and planning of an open pit mining venture and its pro tability thereafter. The accompanying optimisation problem is usually both complex and large. We investigate existing initial solutions as well as two existing metaheuristic algorithms that have been used to solve this problem, improving upon them and introducing a pseudo greedy approach that seeks production schedule improvement in the immediate solution space neighbourhood. This addition greatly improves initial solutions to the problem. Through analysis on a smaller and larger mining instance we reveal the perceived advantages and disadvantages of two existing metaheuristics in producing optimal production schedules. We then propose a parent algorithm that interchangeably selects either of these algorithms based on probabilities determined by their observed performances during computation periods. The parent algorithm produces a strong production schedule that surpasses the current best found solution for the larger mining instance. With these ndings we propose a probabilistic selection method parent algorithm that interchanges between both algorithms in an e ort to achieve a better solution. / E.R. 2019

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing) at the School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg. 23 March 2017. / The main purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of open pit mining on the Land Use Land Cover Change (LULCC) of the Yatela region in Mali. The methodology used to assess the open pit mining operations were remote sensing vegetation indices (NDVI) and LULC maps at a four year interval from 1999 to 2015. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification was used to create the LULC maps. Assessment of the quality from SVM classification outputs were analyzed using the confusion matrix technique. Three satellites (Landsat 5, 7 and 8) were used to analyze the images that were extracted from scene path 202 row 050. The NDVI results were able to detect the development and expenditure of the open pit mine in the Yatela region from 1999 to 2015. The roads and open pit mine area were easily detected from the 1999 NDVI results. Over the years the vegetation cover varied in the Yatela region, good vegetation cover was present before mine operations (1999) and after the mine closure (2015). The average overall accuracy for the five classified images was 84.31%. The change detection statistics showed that there were significant changes in each of the five classes over the 16 year period. Anthropogenic factors are assumed to be the major contributing factor to the Land Use Land Cover Change in the Yatela region. Nonetheless, this should not mean that climate factors can be neglected as contributing factors to LULCC in the region. Due to data limitation this research was unable to test any climatic influences. / LG2018

Natural factors limit the extent to which land disturbed by man's activities such as the strip mining of coal may be returned to productivity. In the western United States, the availability of water is frequently the most important of these factors. To assist decision makers in land restoration efforts, a procedure is developed by which precipitation and the distribution of precipitation water on reclaimed areas may be forecast. With this information, reclamation decisions can be made with increased confidence. The initial phase of the procedure is the development of a sequence-based stochastic precipitation model which provides as output simulated sequences of annual precipitation events. Probability distributions for storm parameters such as precipitation per event, event duration, distribution of events in time, etc. are obtained from analysis of historic climatological data for the study area. From these distributions simulated series of annual events possessing statistical characteristics of the actual event sequences are generated. Statistical analysis shows no significant differences between parameters of the actual events and those generated by the model. The stochastic precipitation model is used to drive a deterministic model simulating other hydrologic processes. In the second model, a finite difference solution records changes in water content within the soil profile. Root extraction, evaporation, infiltration and percolation are also simulated based upon changing hydraulic head at selected depth intervals. The kinematic wave approximation and the continuity of mass equation are used to route overland flow from the watershed. The model accurately predicts the distribution of water resulting from annual series of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration event sequences.

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Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

The Star Fire Coal Mine is a large strip mining operation (10,000 acre permit) that produces mine spoil consisting of sandstones, shales, siltstones, and underclays of the Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation. Chemical analysis of groundwater from the saturated mine spoil show unusually high magnesium concentrations, with magnesium constituting between 27 and 47 percent of the major cations. Excess magnesium in water is detrimental to plant metabolism, and its content in groundwater may limit its use for irrigation and other uses during a post-mining land use plan. Petrological methods (thin section point count analysis and x-ray diffraction) and geochemical methods (electron microprobe analysis and water extraction experiments) were performed to determine the source of magnesium in sandstone and shale samples of the Breathitt Formation. Based on mineral percents and concentrations of magnesium found in samples used for waterrock interaction samples, magnesium-rich siderite was found as the primary contributor of magnesium to the groundwater. / Department of Geology

The concept of this thesis was developed during the author's two years of work with the British Columbia Ministry of Mines and Petroleum Resources as a Reclamation Inspector. During that period (1973-75) one of the author's major duties was to review reclamation plans prepared by mining companies, pursuant to Section 8 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act3 as applications for either surface mining permits or permit extensions. The quality of these reports varied greatly, with few being really comprehensive. No uniform standard of reclamation report was achieved by industry or, perhaps even more important, demanded by the Ministry. Reclamation programmes on many mining operations were suffering from an obvious lack of management planning. Work was being undertaken without clear objectives, and no apparent attempt was being made to develop an ongoing planning process. The author contends that the following characteristics are implicit in the term "management planning": 1. A stated management period; 2. An initial collection of facts and a description of the area to be managed; 3. An analysis of the facts and an assessment of management options; 4. The designation of management objectives; 5. The design of a programme to accomplish the objectives; and 6. A record of results and a collection of further information by inventory and research to be used in formulating the plan for the next management period. He further explains that, by intent, Section 8 of the Coal Mine's Regulation Act would appear at present to require most of these elements of a management process in the preparation of a reclamation report. The object of this thesis is to develop and illustrate a management plan format that reflects the continuous planning process outlined above. As a basis for the plan the experience and information gained by the author at Kaiser Resources Ltd.'s mining operation in Sparwood during the period 1971-1973 are summarized and interpreted, and management prescriptions formed from that synthesis. The thesis is written as though it were a management plan prepared in early 19 75 for the management period 1975- 1978. In summary, the format of the plan is essentially as follows: 1. An initial collection of facts and description of the area to be managed. This portion of the plan consists of two chapters; a description of the biophysical characteristics of the mining area, and a description of the mining environment to be reclaimed. The biophysical description includes topography, drainage, bedrock and surficial geology, soils, climate, vegetation and fauna. The description of the mining environment deals with the history of coal mining in the East Kootenay, the tenure of the mining area, and the location, extent and nature of mining, milling and exploration operations. 2. An assessment of Management Options. Two items are considered to be important in assessing reclamation management options; the environmental impact of the mining operation, and the legal responsibilities of the mining company for reclamation. Basically, reclamation is undertaken in order to mitigate some of the adverse effects of mining on the natural environment. For this reason, a discussion of the major impacts of mining, concentrating on those that can be mitigated by reclamation, is a prerequisite to the formulation of management objectives. This chapter of the plan contains a description of land capability for forestry, agriculture, wildlife and recreation, and a discussion of the impact of mining on land capability, water quality and the fishery resource. The second chapter of this portion of the plan deals with the legislative and administrative framework for reclamation in British Columbia. The Coal Mines Regulation Act currently states that reclamation must be carried out to a level satisfactory to the Minister, without defining what that level is. This chapter discusses present interpretations of the Act, the administrative procedures for reclamation enforcement, and speculates on the form that eventual reclamation standards might take. 3. The designation of management objectives. Management objectives are defined on the basis of the environmental impacts of the mining operation and on the legal requirements for reclamation. For the Kaiser Resources Ltd. operation the overall reclamation management objectives are defined as: i. To re-establish watershed values, by either mechanical means or the establishment of a self-sustaining vegetation cover, as soon as possible after the cessation of mining activities on any particular parcel of land. ii. To accomplish watershed rehabilitation in a manner that is compatible with the potential prime surface use of the land and consistent with post-mining site conditions. On the basis of the description of both the mining environment and land capability, two land use objectives are proposed: a. To provide food and, ultimately, cover for mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk and moose through the establishment of appropriate plant communities. b. To re-establish aesthetic values on all disturbed lands and, where possible, to - enhance opportunities for outdoor recreation. 4. The design of a programme to accomplish the objectives. This section of the plan consists of a discussion of the major constraints to successful reclamation and a description of the various components of the reclamation programme. The most significant constraints to reclamation on the Kaiser Resources Ltd. operation are considered to be, in decreasing order of importance: surface instability, soil temperature, soil compaction, soil chemistry, and increasing elevation. Seven components of the reclamation programme are described - species selection, seed collection, plant propagation, site preparation, seeding, planting, and tending. In each case, past experience, including cost information, is summarized, and major prescriptions proposed for the coming management period. 5. Assessment of Results. The assessment programme relates to the management objectives, and focuses primarily on watershed and wildlife habitat parameters. Parameters to be measured relate to water quality, protective cover, species composition, the degree of ungulate use, forage quantity and forage quality. The management plan thus prepared provides the framework for the two final steps in the management process for any particular management period; the subdivision of the area for management purposes, and the preparation of operational plans. The management area is divided, primarily for record keeping, into compartments, which are permanent unit's based on topography, access or mining operations, and sub-compartments, which are temporary subdivisions of compartments based on treatment. Each compartment should be subject to a specific land-use objective. Sub-compartments may be combined or further subdivided in the light of future operations. The last step in the process is the preparation of annual operational plans. These outline, for each year of the management period, the specific operations to be undertaken and the projected costs of each. Operational plans become the basis for the development of annual budgets. / Forestry, Faculty of / Unknown

A grid type portable rainfall simulator, developed at Virginia Tech from support by the Office of Surface Mining, Department of Interior under Grant NO. G5114009, was used to apply 2.3 inch per hour “storms” to three replicated plots to determine surface mine soil erodibility factors for two distinctly different soils in southern West Virginia. Other variables included in the study were detailed soil descriptions for each site, initial and final soil moistures, plot rainfall distributions and the particle size distributions of the eroded materials. The soil erodibility indexes for the silt silt-loam and sandy respectively. loam soils averaged 0.408 and 0.735. Erodibility indexes for the silt silt-loam decreased, while indexes for the sandy loam soil remained constant for repeated rainfall applications. Using statistical analysis, rainfall distributions were shown to be uniform across plots for most rainfall applications. From a particle size distribution analysis of the eroded soil material, the percentage of silt and clay decreased, while the percentage of sand increased at each site with repeated rainfall applications. A rock mulching effect was present at the end of each testing sequence. / Master of Science

Surface coal mining leads to inevitable changes and notable impact on the physical environment of the earth and engenders immense damage to the landscape and the ecological environment. The dramatic high-speed rock digging and disturbance unavoidably causes ecosystem degradation and destruction. Detecting how surface coal mining affects the environment on the process of land use/cover change is one of the primary concerns to preserve nature and minimize the environmental impacts. Therefore, monitoring and understanding the environmental impact processes in mining areas is critical for sustainable management of the Earth's environment. In this thesis, remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) are applied to assess the spatial environmental impact caused by surface coal mining in southwestern Indiana. The goal of this research is to develop a methodology to classify the coal mining field using satellite imagery and to quantify and assess land use /cover changes using remote sensing and GIS. The specific methods include classification of Landsat Thermal Mapper (TM) data and comparison of the spatial patterns of the classification results in the study region. The results are presented with a 3-D model to better understand and visualize the coal mining effects on the landscape. Results obtained in this study indicate the change area of land use/cover and the potential area for planting crops in southwestern Indiana. Based on the observation of the data results, vegetation in the study area was found to have changed significantly over the study period. In particular, the developed areas have been increasing quickly and the areas of agriculture and forests have been decreasing appreciably. / Department of Geography

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977 requires that mine operators reclaim mined land to achieve productivity levels equal to or greater than premined conditions. Presently, the standard for evaluating reforestation success is based solely on tree-seedling survival. This method is an estimator of stand density and not an indication of site productivity. There exists a need to evaluate mine soils based on their capability of growing merchantable timber. This model would aid the reclamation process by providing a means for assessing mine soils based on their quality and productivity. / Master of Science